Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the number two cancer killer in the U.S. among both men and women, only behind lung cancer. Each year in the U.S., approximately 140,000 people are diagnosed with CRC and more than 50,000 will die. Despite these grim statistics, CRC remains a highly preventable disease through screening and removal of polyps in the colon. Although there are several CRC-screening methods currently available, colonoscopy is the gold standard for the detection of adenomas and cancers. Despite this, current white-light colonoscopy is not infallible. Many studies have shown that even the most experienced colonoscopists under optimal conditions miss at least 20%-30% of adenomas. Thus, there is clearly a need to enhance detection of adenomas during colonoscopy to help improve clinical outcomes. VisEn Medical, Inc. is pioneering the development of a novel optical molecular imaging probe (VM102) for the early detection of pre-neoplastic lesions and early cancers. The overall focus of this research is to demonstrate the potential of VM102 to detect pre-neoplastic lesions and early cancers by near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) endoscopy. The preclinical experiments proposed in this grant application will help to systematically demonstrate proof of concept of using VM102 to image pre-neoplastic lesions and early cancers (1) with sufficient target to background contrast (TBC), (2) using a technique (i.e., NIRF endoscopy) that is directly applicable to the clinic, and (3) with clinically viable sensitivity and specificity
